the adventures of malloy and rex

OKAY! major update time. i apologize to those of you who check regularly! with vacation and then school starting we've been busybusybusy!

i suppose i'll start with more pictures from vacations and recap the trip!

teeny tiny crab!

friday afternoon, rex started loving the ocean!

just doing some reading

how cute are they??!!

this is the first day at the beach:

ring around the rosie

oh help! oh no! it's a gruffalo!!!! (awesome birthday present from auntie elaine!)

when it rains...

we go to friendly's!

eating dinner at Bethany Blues BBQ on our last night at the beach

can't get enough of these curls!

mmmm ice cream!

our home for the week!

the kids loved vacation! malloy would get up early every morning, wake rex up, and pump him up for the beach. neal got up with them most mornings, fed them, suited them up and took them to the beach. they loved digging holes, making mini-pools, building sandcastles, chasing seagulls (mainly rex), and splashing in the ocean (mainly malloy until the last day!). on friday afternoon, rex LOVED running into the ocean and getting splashed. he looked up at neal, beaming, and said "THIS IS SO FUN!"

malloy loved playing with natalie!! she thought she was her little baby doll - trying to pick her up and carry her around, play house with her, make her pretend to sleep, dress her up, etc. natalie liked it, too...sometimes...

they also had a blast with auntie ali, uncle chen, and auntie elaine! rex was so funny with elaine - he'd scowl at her or yell at her. it took him a long time to warm up to her but he did! she even got some hugs!!

vacation was very fun and very exhausting! they did great in the van on the way down and back. neal sat in between them and entertained them. it was a little crazy on the way home - they were both so overtired that there was a bit of crying. we also hit some heavy rain, but kept plugging away and finally made it to grandma tappy and grandpa gary's!!! we had an amazing spaghetti dinner with grandma, grandpa, uncle ryan, and kari.

listening to scary sounds with daddy's headphones on the ride home

sneaking out the door while grandpa's taking a picture

beautiful skies!!

freckles!!!

sunday 9/9 - we got up, loaded up the car, and headed over to grandma val and grandpa don's for a delicious brunch with roro and papa hank, aunt amy, uncle tim, and kassie! at one point, malloy was starting at roro. roro asked her "why are you staring at me?" malloy replied "because i love you". it was the sweetest thing ever!! we said our good-byes and headed back to buffalo! we were all happy to be home!!!

we got a new bag of clothes from bella!!

dinner on the couch because there were bags taking over the kitchen!

frosty was the movie of choice tonight - apparently they're over the beach already!

monday - 9/10 - today was malloy's first day of school!!! she was super excited and rex was just plain mad that he didn't get to go to school today. when malloy saw gianna in front of the school, they ran up to each other and gave huge hugs! it was so cute! while malloy was at school, we went to play at the park with jamie and kenadee. malloy didn't have a lot to say about school, just that mrs. w doesn't have a song box like mrs. messina. she had a blast though!! the rest of the day was a crankfest! malloy wanted to nap in her own bed. i let her, but had her go to sleep first so that rex wouldn't be tempted to play. that backfired - he woke her up by stepping on her back! so she napped for 20 minutes and he didn't nap at all!! we were all every miserable for the rest of the day and the kids were in pjs by 5:30pm!! neal came home and it was daddy to the rescue!!

tuesday 9/11 - we had a FUN day!! we went to the gym and then wegmans - the kids got to eat a donut while they were in their little car. that was a super special treat!! they were very good - i was taking a long time at the store! then we decided that we should go to the library. we went to a different one than we usually go to. when we arrived, it was closed and didn't open until 4pm. i told them it was closed until after nap and we should come back them. they took the change in plans VERY well!! i was proud of them - lately they've been really whiny and crying at anything! we went over to the playground right next to the library and that was all roped off because it was being painted! BUT, we didn't freak out about thatgarbage b either!! we swang and played on the see saw - well, all 4 see-saws! and then we ran around! i made up a racing game and we'd race from one tree to another tree, to a lamp post, to the water fountain. it was fun and tiring!!!
i made up a new reward system for sleeping since i took down the blind that was thumbtacked on the window and we were having trouble getting the kids staying in bed. spanking really doesn't work with our kids at all! (and we hate it!! neal had to spank rex monday night and felt awful about it all night). i bought 2 small garbage bins and put their names on them. when they go right to sleep - no yelling, no crying, to getting out of bed, etc - they get to put a ball in their bucket. when the bucket is full, they get the toy that they picked out as their prize. it's been working great for the most part. the kids went right down for nap and bedtime too!!
instead of going to the library right after nap, we waited and went after dinner because neal wanted to go with us. they had so much fun picking out books with daddy!! then, the playground was all clear and ready to be played on! we let them run around for a bit and then it was time for bath and bed!

helping take bottles back

closed off playground :(

laying in the sun

i peeked in on rex and this is what i found. he loves to be cozy with his animals!

putting on a show!

wednesday 9/12 - rex's first day of school! he was very excited to go. i co-oped today so i was in the classroom with him. he was really cute to watch and my heart melted a bunch of times!! he was super shy at first and kept his head down. today was just playing in the classroom, getting used to the teachers and surroundings. rex was playing with some farm animals and yelled over to me "mama, look at me! cock-a-doodle-doo!" he was holding a rooster in his hand. then his new little buddy cadence came over to play. rex had a bunch of people and animals lined up in a cubby and he told cadence "these are my guys right there, ok?" i think it was the only thing he said on his own to anyone except me! he got to pick a circle when it was story time - of course he picked a green circle! it was a fun hour of school! then it was time to pick up malloy! they really are so cute together! they were hugging like they hadn't seen each other in ages!
after school we went to safina's house to play. the kids had a blast playing together and i don't think anyone made anyone else cry! we all had pizza for lunch and then headed home. we stayed a bit too long because the kids were nodding off on the 3 minute car ride! when we got home they were CRANKY!! rex took a few tries to get to sleep despite the highly motivating bucket of balls! malloy was very very whiny, but did go to sleep quickly!!
neal had to work late, so it was just me and the kids! they were awesome helpers with yard work! we had a ton of leaves in our yard so i did some raking and the kids helped bag them up. this kept malloy busy for quite some time! she was having a great time and helping a lot! the kids went to bed without a peep!

rex wanted me to spray his hair like i was spraying malloy's - "you make my mohawk curly, ok?"

curls

playing so nice and taking turns

these are my guys here, ok?

learning to stand in line and wash hands

"tops and bottoms, tops and bottoms, in between, in between. all around my hands, all around my hands, make them clean, make them clean."

thursday 9/13 - thursdays are going to be our "fun day". i don't have to go to the gym until the afternoon and there's no school so we can do whatever we want! we chose the zoo! malloy wanted to play on the playground so bad, so that's the first thing we did when we got there. the best part of the trip was watching the gorillas - the baby gorilla, amari, was right up to the window. she was banging on the glass right in front of malloy and rex. she really looked like she wanted to get out and play with the kids.
the zoo wiped the kids out! they went right down and slept for about 3 hours! they got up just in time to get to the gym. we ran to walgreens after that. both kids were so cute walking around walgreens carrying their little shopping baskets. then it was home for dinner, a quick show, and bed!

their new game is to drag each other around

this is what rex does while malloy plays on the playground

"take a picture of me!"

watching the gorillas

their favorite thing at the zoo is cleaning up the hay in the barn!

today was another school day! i dropped malloy off - she doesn't even really say goodbye. she just waltzes right in the classroom! then i dropped rex off in the playroom, gave him a kiss and he was off to play! i got a whole hour to myself! just enough time to do some dishes and pick up a little bit! i went to pick rex up and he was all smiles - he ran up to me yelling "mama!" and showing me his art that he made. he looked a bit wiped out. mrs. messina came out and said "we had a bit of a meltdown" turns out he cried for about 40 minutes today :( he was completely fine when i left. then it was time to clean up in the playroom. when mrs. messina gives the one minute warning, she flickers the light on and off. (she said he started crying when she did that). i think that it startled him and he started crying and just couldn't stop himself. the teachers said he did a great job listening and following directions, he just did everything while crying. poor little guy! we called grandma val after school while we were waiting for malloy and rex told her "i was crying". i asked him a bit later if he was going to tell uncle ryan about school and he said "yeah, i will tell him i was crying". mind you, he was saying this with a huge grin on his face. always a jokester!
rex went right to bed last night so he filled his bucket and got his toy!!! malloy was calling out and lost one of her balls, BUT she didn't call out at all during the night so she did get one ball. i told her we could try again at nap time. she called out at nap time (which she never does anymore!) but i think it was because she's got a cold and isn't feeling well.
we went to dinner with uncle ryan tonight! the kids were so excited to see him! we had a great dinner and at the end, malloy was looking really tired. she curled up on my lap and snuggled and then uncle ryan got a nice snuggle session with her. we got home late and the kids went down without a peep!!